NEW SETTING OF THE ARMENIAN HYMN OF VESTING TO BE PERFORMED AT THE CHARLES WOOD SUMMER SCHOOL, ARMAGH
In 1980 Theo Saunders, now Organist and Master of the Choristers at St Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral, Armagh, spent a month as the organist at St George's Anglican Cathedral in Jerusalem. Whilst there he made a point of visiting churches of as many different denominations as possible, including the Armenian Church of St James, where he heard the daily Offices, and The Tomb of Mary, where he attended the Liturgy. He was particularly interested in the history of the Armenian Church, its people, and its manifest devotion, despite all that it has had to undergo; noticing, too, some similarities with the Anglican Communion.
Theo says, "One piece which I heard was the Hymn of Vesting, sung before the Eucharist, as the clergy robed themselves. I was really taken with it. I spoke to the choirmaster, Sahag Kalidjan, who kindly took me to the library where I was able to transcribe a three-part arrangement of it. Over the years I contemplated making a larger-scale arrangement and finally completed this in early 2010."
The original melody is used for over half the piece, and the words throughout. The piece is arranged for double choir - the Armenian church in Jerusalem has its choirs on two sides - as in in most Anglican Churches, and some of the piece uses this feature. Some of it is in four parts, doubled at the octave, and some in eight independent parts. Whilst there is an optional higher part, the cantoris bass does go down very low! Theo goes on to say, "I hope that those who are familiar with the original are not offended by my arrangement, which does take some liberties with the original melody and underlay."
Copies of the music are available from the composer. Please send him an email at: -
theodore5@btopenworld.com
The service starts at 17.00, and lasts about an hour. Since it is being recorded for Radio 3, the BBC have asked that the congregation be seated by 16.40. It will be broadcast on Wednesday, 31st August, on BBC Radio 3 'Choral Evensong' at 16.00 and again on the following Sunday, 4th September, also at 16.00.
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